GOP Leaders offer tough talk on DACA amnesty, but Members from both sides of the aisle dial up the pressure on a deal #NoDACA #NoAmnesty #Trump

FRI, DEC 1th

There have been a number of developments over the last 36 hours pertaining to the spending bill that Congress must pass by Dec. 8 or risk a government shutdown, and whether the bill will include an amnesty for illegal aliens who received Pres. Obama’s unconstitutional DACA executive amnesty.

What we know:

House Republican Leaders prefer to pass two short-term spending bills — one that extends the Dec. 8 deadline until Dec. 22, followed by a second bill that extends the deadline into the new year. Their thinking is that it will provide enough time to pass an immigration package later that would likely grant a permanent amnesty to DACA recipients, fund the border wall, and end Chain Migration.

House Republicans are divided on the strategy. Pro-enforcement Republicans fear that such a move would further empower the pro-DACA amnesty advocates, while some House appropriators want to see government funding approved for a longer period of time.

Democrats in both the House and Senate who want to see a DACA amnesty without anything related to Chain Migration, the Visa Lottery, E-Verify, and border funding included in the spending bill are gaining momentum. More and more Democrats are saying they won’t support a spending bill that doesn’t include a DACA amnesty. And the second ranking Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, is leading the way.

Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent Sen. Durbin a proposal that would exchange a DACA amnesty (without a path to citizenship) for border security, E-Verify, and an end to Chain Migration. Sen. Durbin rejected the offer.

A group of House Republicans, led by Reps. Scott Taylor of Virginia and Dan Newhouse of Washington, are pressuring Speaker Paul Ryan to include a “no-strings-attached” DACA amnesty in the spending bill. News reports indicate they are trying to obtain signatures from two to three dozen GOP Representatives to force an amnesty that continues Chain Migration and the ability of employers to hire future illegal aliens.

If all that seems daunting, there were some positive developments this week.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and endorsed Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue’s RAISE Act and said ending Chain Migration and the Visa Lottery should be part of any DACA deal. He also called Democratic efforts to tie a DACA amnesty to the spending bill a “dumb place” to be.

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the Democrats blew their chance at including a DACA amnesty in a longer-term spending bill when they didn’t show up to a meeting between Congressional Leaders and President Trump on Tuesday. Speaker Ryan said, “I don’t think Ds are in a very good position to be making demands if they’re not even going to participate in the negotiations.”

TAKE ACTION

Many of you have a number of action items on your Action Board. Most of the pressure needs to be placed on the lead negotiators — House and Senate GOP Leadership. We’ll continue to send out action alerts, asking for phone calls, emails, and Tweets to Leadership over the next several weeks. We’ve also posted specific action items for Members of Congress who are calling for a no-strings DACA amnesty.

CIS PANEL DISCUSSES ‘UNINTENDED CONSEQUESNCES’ OF IMMIGRATION

The Center for Immigration Studies held a panel on Thursday that featured RAISE Act sponsor, Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, Jordan Commission Vice Chair, Dr. Michael Teitelbaum, and CIS’ Director of Policy Studies, Jessica Vaughan, to discuss the Jordan Commission’s recommendations and how the RAISE Act would address them.

Dr. Teitelbaum noted that past immigration reform bills (1990, 1986, 1965) have had “unintended consequences” that make it more difficult to make changes. He said these unintended consequences have benefited certain special interest groups, and it’s been lobbying efforts by those groups that have made it difficult for Congress to fix the consequences.

All three panelists agreed that Chain Migration would multiply the effect of any amnesty, including an amnesty for DACA recipients, and said Congress should end Chain Migration before passing another amnesty.